Team 4
by Lord Kamikage
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto wanted nothing more than to be a great ninja, respected by everyone. Deciding that he had learned everything he could in the Academy, he takes the Final Exam. From there, he embarks on a life journey that will change him, forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I am not Kishimoto Masashi, unfortunately. Thus, it is only reasonable to assume that I do not own Naruto. If you recognize a technique from another manga, or a character, I do not own them either. Frankly, I think the only character I own fully is Yoshida Tadao.

**Summary:** Uzumaki Naruto wanted nothing more than to be a great ninja, respected by everyone. Deciding that he had learned everything he could in the Academy, he takes the Final Exam. From there, he embarks on a life journey that will change him, forever.

**Author Note:** Ever since I read rochsarchblot's Real Shinobi excerpts, plus my own partiality to 'what if Naruto had passed earlier' plots. I have, however, not seen many plots where Naruto passes the very first time.

People seem to like giving Naruto teammates that people have already heard of. They like to give him challenges that he has already faced. I'm sure everyone's tired of rereading the Zabuza saga. While the basic idea came from Real Shinobi, this is still a rather generic Naruto fic. I am sorry.

This idea would just not leave me alone.

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT!**

Uzumaki Naruto settled himself down in his seat, barely able to hold himself still. He felt as though excitement, flowing like electricity, had replaced his blood. His normal grin was replaced with a bigger one, threatening to overtake his face.

Sitting on his forehead was a brand new hitai-ate, gleaming in the room's light, along with the other graduates'.

He had done it. He was a real ninja.

When Naruto had signed up for the exam, he had not been as confident in his ability to pass as he had claimed. However, the look on the rest of his class' faces when he made that declaration made him go through with it, just to make them respect him.

And now, he had passed, meaning that he was the best of all of them. Not even Sasuke could have passed the exam on his first try.

Iruka-sensei had been so shocked when he told him, later that same day at Ichiraku Ramen. The look on his face was reminiscent of the time that Naruto had sneaked Tabasco sauce into his ramen. It had twisted strangely after realizing that Naruto did not have to take his class' test either.

What had followed was a few days with Iruka-sensei giving him his undivided attention before school started back up. Apparently, he wanted to make sure that Naruto did know the basics well enough to make it.

Sitting back here in the classroom, he looked around at all of the other graduates, sitting and chatting. All of them were studiously ignoring him.

At the next table over, the Rookie of the Year was bragging to some of his friends about the asses he was going to kick. He was a rather big guy; not as big as Chōji but meaty all the same. He had a black mohawk and a rather savage grin.

In another part of the classroom, a trio of kids sat, just glaring at the others. All of them had lavender eyes, kinda like that weird girl in Iruka's class.

He restrained another giggle. This was awesome.

After he was assigned a team, he'd go on amazing missions, fighting the evils in the world, saving princesses. He'd make Jōnin in no time, and then Hokage. Maybe he would marry one of the princesses he saved, or even better, Sakura-chan.

He could just see himself, standing there on top of the Hokage Monument, dressed in the Hokage robes. The village would be standing beneath him, looking up with respect, cheering his name.

The door slamming open pulled him from his fantasy as the class's teacher strode in, solemn look on his face. He had slicked black hair and strange eyebrows, the right always quirked up.

"Greetings, class." He nodded once, respectfully. "This is our final meeting before you go off, giving your bodies, your souls and your lives for this village, and the people who live here. I wish you the best of luck. From this moment on, I am proud of every one of you." Holding up the clipboard, he gestured to the rest of the class. "I have here the whim of the Hokage, the names listed here are to be your new family, perhaps for the rest of your life. However short that may be." He gave a discreet glance in Naruto's direction.

"As I call your names, please gather in the other room, with your team. Team 1: Yamada Taro..."

It did not take long to reach Naruto's name, much to his joy.

"Team 4: Iyokan Hazuki, Matsushita Sayuri and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto nearly knocked his chair over in his rush to get to the room, following behind two kunoichi.

The taller of the two had long teal hair and her hitai-ate was fastened to an orange headband. She was dressed in dark pants with a white shirt and red tank top. She had a thick leather belt laying across her torso and one kunai holster on each thigh.

The other shorter girl looked much plainer, with two brown braids. She was dressed in black pants and a white gi, her hands were wrapped. She was obviously a Taijutsu specialist.

The three of them seated themselves at a desk in the empty classroom, the other three teams sitting in the corners, watching the door.

The Taijutsu girl offered a wan smile to him as they sat down. The other girl just seemed to stare off into space, sulking about something.

Naruto tipped his chair back, looking around the room. The silence felt uncomfortable, something he probably should be used to by now. He could already feel his nerves start to itch, the urge to do something becoming almost overwhelming. "So..." He looked over at the Taijutsu girl. "What's your name?"

She looked up, fidgeting. "I'm Matsushita Sayuri, from the Matsushita Tekken Dojo. You are Uzumaki Naruto-san, right?"

Naruto grinned. Someone recognized him and was not condemning him to hell in the first sentence. That was new, and felt rather nice. "Yep, the one and only future Hokage, himself. Just watch, I'll be in that office real soon."

A soft snort followed his statement. It came from the sulking girl – Hazuki, he noted. "Yeah, probably for blowing someone up. You'll get your hitai-ate taken away for that, you know." The tone sounded friendly enough.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Only people I'm blowing up are the enemies."

Hazuki turned to smirk at him, voice dripping with mockery. "You stab people with the pointy end of the kunai. Wanna see how?"

"Well, it's awfully nice of you to offer to demonstrate proper technique for your squad-mate but it'll have to wait." The new voice sounded tired and slightly slurred, coming from the doorway.

Every Genin in the room, all eight teams, looked over at him hopefully.

He was looked to be a rather average, if a bit shady, Jōnin. He wasn't very tall with slicked black hair and a goatee. His hitai-ate sat low on his brow, obscuring his eyes without actually covering them. For some reason, he was carrying a stack of board games in his hand.

"My name is Yoshida Tadao; I'm here for Team 4. Which group is that?" He looked around at all the young Genin.

Hazuki practically jumped to attention, looking him in the eyes. "We are, sir." Her body was as rigid as a board, hands at her side.

Naruto stared at her, wondering what the hell she thought she was doing.

"Meet me out front, by the swing." Looking back over the other teams, he smirked again. "Team 7? Which one is that?"

A nondescript group in the back raised their hands.

"Here." He threw them the board games. "Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi. He is known for being at least three hours late to everything. Last time I saw him today, he was in a bookstore, so expect him in about five hours. Take a note, you are not allowed to leave until he arrives. Team 4, move it."

Team 4 jogged out of the building, Naruto's thoughts running the whole way.

_This is going to be my teacher? What's so hot about him?_

* * *

Iyokan Hazuki stood between her new squad-mates, eyes trained on her new Jōnin-sensei. Her muscles were starting to feel stiff from her rigid position but she was not going to break stance until told to. Her father always said that Jōnin deserved every speck of respect you could conceive of.

Tadao-sensei was standing in the center of the clearing, looking at the sky, appearing to enjoy the clouds. His hands were stuffed into his pockets. He was ignoring them. He had been since he led them out of the Academy, out here to Training Ground 58.

As subtly as she could, she looked around the clearing. It was rather small, only about eight yards in diameter. Within walking distance, she could hear a waterfall. The area sounded way too quiet to be real, but she did not want to be caught checking for Genjutsu.

Her squad-mates were gawking at the area, not even bothering to hide their curiosity. Amateurs.

Matsushita was standing straight, her head not moving all that much. Her wide eyes and open expression gave away her lack of control. She was admiring the scenery, not analyzing the terrain.

Uzumaki was the disgrace, though. He was bouncing from one foot to another, hands clenching and opening. He was completely broadcasting his emotions. He did not even bothering restraining his chakra, giving her a headache. His neon orange tracksuit did nothing to ease her mind. He was going to die soon.

Pursing her lips, she turned back to look at Tadao-sensei, waiting for him to acknowledge them. Finally, after several minutes of silence, she cleared her throat. "Sensei?"

Tadao looked over at his students for the first time since the Academy. He seemed surprised to see them. "Right, time to begin, isn't it?" He cleared his throat. "Normally, we would be expected to share our likes and dislikes, dreams for the future, that kind of shit. Personally, I don't expect you to still be ninja by sundown so I'm not going to bother."

"What the hell does that mean?" Uzumaki said, his voice gratingly whiny. "We're already ninja, see the headbands?" He hooked his thumb under his, just in case Tadao was stupid.

Matsushita was gnawing on her lip, eyes still wide as she stared at the Jōnin Her hands were trembling.

Hazuki's eyes narrowed. Her father hadn't mentioned this kind of wrinkle before.

Tadao nodded. "Right, those things." He twitched before holding up his hand. He was holding three hitai-ate. "I'll take those, need to give these back to the Academy. They should give them to more deserving people."

The Genin blinked before reaching up to feel their foreheads. Nothing. Those were their hitai-ate!

Hazuki stared at Tadao, incredulous. Did he just say that she didn't deserve her status? She was no Uzumaki.

Speaking of Uzumaki, he was growling, eyes narrowed. "We worked our asses off for those. Who're you to say otherwise?"

Tadao just raised an eyebrow. "I am your Jōnin-sensei. I realize no one has told you; that's supposed to be my job. Only one third of your class is going to continue on as ninja. The others are going to be sent back to the Academy, or dropped altogether. Technically speaking, I'm 'required' to give you a test, a chance to prove that you deserve these. But I don't feel like it, so you fail. Bye-bye."

The only thing Hazuki found more frustrating than his words was his tone. He sounded amused, like this was a goddamn game and he had a winning hand, watching the other players flounder in their hope.

"Sensei?" Matsushita spoke up, her voice shaky and faint. She sounded like she was trying to be brave but utterly failing. Pathetic. "You said that you were required to give us a test. Aren't you going to get in trouble if you don't?"

Tadao laughed. The bastard was actually laughing at them. At her. "Don't worry, Missy. I'll be perfectly all right. The Hokage isn't going to shed a tear over three little Genin failing their test."

"Why not just let us take the test, then? You already think we're going to fail. Why not let us prove you right? What do you have to lose?" Hazuki was not going to lose her ninja status, just because her Jōnin was lazy.

"My night, and my sleep. I have stuff I want to do."

"She's right." Matsushita straightened up a bit. "We deserve our chance to take the test."

Tadao sighed. "_I don't want to_. What part don't you understand?"

"The part where you are required to give us a test, and you aren't?" Uzumaki was glaring at him, hand wrapped around a kunai handle.

Looking up at the sky, Tadao sighed. "What's in it for me?"

"We won't rat you out for shirking your duties?" Hazuki offered.

Tadao waved it off. "Hokage-sama is probably watching us right now. He knows."

"We'll shut up about how unfair it is?" Uzumaki said.

Tadao shrugged. "You're not my problem after today."

With a rising growl being the only warning, Uzumaki jerked forward, sending a kunai whistling through the air, aimed for the Jōnin.

Tadao's hand shot up, catching the thrown kunai. Even with his eyes shadowed, the three Genin felt the heat of his gaze sweep over them. "Are you really that desperate to officially fail?"

They stood their ground, watching him carefully.

His face hardened before twisting into an ugly smirk. "Fine. You see these?" He held up their headbands. "You have until sunrise to take these back from me, however you feel necessary." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

As soon as the smoke cleared, Uzumaki-kun and Iyokan-san snarled, charging off in different directions, crashing through the brush. With all the noise they were making, Sensei must be able to hear them, clearly.

They were never going to find him at this rate, let alone take back their headbands. Sunset was about half a day away. It would probably take all that time simply to find him. Once the sun went down, tracking down Sensei would get much harder. Fighting him would be even more difficult; it already seemed impossible. A Genin stood no chance against a Jōnin

This was it, the end of her ninja career. She didn't even get to do anything. All those people out there, not one of them she could help.

_No, stop that_, she scolded. _That isn't the way to get what you want._

Taking a deep breath, she focused herself as much as she could. She centered her mind as her father had always taught her to do. Slowly, she felt the slight breeze drift away.

Her hearing grew sharper, until she could hear everything in the clearing, which wasn't much.

She took another deep breath and opened her eyes.

Walking over to the center of the clearing, she knelt down, looking for any footprints, any marks that could lead her in the right direction.

She tried hard to recall the tracking classes in the Academy. Unfortunately, that had not been her best subject.

The thought of Yoshida Tadao's look when she tracked him down made her press on. Never in all her life had she ever heard of a teacher so irresponsible that he would fail his students just so he could have some free time.

Hearing a footstep behind her, she turned around and saw Sensei, or Tadao-san, whatever he wanted to be, standing behind her. His hands were in his pockets again.

"I see you didn't go tearing off after me." He smirked. "Why is that?"

Sayuri swallowed nervously. Her heart was pounding in her ears; her thoughts were racing. She clenched her fist, cracking her knuckles. She hadn't thought that she would get the first shot at him.

Standing up slowly, she took another deep breath, trying to calm down.

_This is a Jōnin, I'm not ready for this, there is no possible way I can win, I'm going to die._

She set her face into a calm mask of determination, sliding into a basic stance. She stood, feet shoulder-width apart, fists at chest level. Her right fist was drawn back next to her shoulder.

Even if she couldn't beat him, she could try to show her that she was no pushover. Nothing was going to stop her, not even her.

Tadao just smiled mockingly, not even taking a stance.

A flash of movement.

Sayuri jerked back, narrowly avoiding the boot that passed within an inch of her nose, the breeze ruffling her hair. She slid back, barely lifting her feet, eyes never wavering.

Sensei looked as though he had not moved, standing there, smiling.

Sayuri blinked, minutely biting her lip.

He was fast. Too fast. She couldn't see him, only track his movement a split second before he struck.

Another flash.

Sayuri brought her left arm up, swinging it to the side as hard as she could. She winced as his fist connected hard with her forearm, glancing off. That had felt like an iron ball striking her at high velocity. Continuing her spin, she threw her hardest punch.

Sensei turned into a log, exploding into splinters when she struck it.

Shaking out her arms, she tried to stretch out her senses, scanning the clearing.

Nothing.

He had disappeared, again.

The air moved.

Thinking quickly, she barely managed to get off a Kawarimi, ending up on the other side of the field, watching another log explode.

She didn't see Sensei.

The air moved again.

She threw herself to the side, rolling across the ground painfully. She landed on her butt hard, tumbling back into a somersault until she was on her feet again. Sayuri immediately raised her arms, blocking Sensei's descending elbow.

The force drove her to her knees.

She wrenched herself back as his foot cut through the space her head had been in.

A tree a short distance behind her shattered.

Eyes wide, breathing hard, she could only stare at the destruction. A shattered stump was all that remained of the tree, splinters raining down on the ground, inches from her.

He wasn't playing around. He really meant to kill her.

She was going to die.

Her heart began pounding in her ears again. She couldn't think. Sweat began pouring as her mind raced. Hints of thought replaced by other hints, none given a chance to develop. Her hands started to shake.

She straightened up, staring at Sensei, incredulous.

He stood there, not smiling, staring.

She slowly began to crawl away, backwards, never taking her eyes off of him, lest she invite an attack.

Sensei sneered before moving again, faster.

Before she could react, her head was wrenched upward, teeth clacking together hard. The world tumbled, turned, spun. She hit the ground several feet away, her back and shoulder in agony from smacking into the ground.

She slowly shook her head, feeling like someone had just tried to wrench her head off her neck the hard way.

After several tries to move her body, Sayuri finally got her feet underneath her, standing shakily. She stumbled and caught herself awkwardly.

Sensei was there to meet her.

Before she could react, she felt her feet knocked out from under her. Sayuri turned her head as she felt an iron ball slam into her cheek, twisting her head around painfully into a tree trunk. Sayuri felt the tree splinter against her face.

She bounced off and landed on the ground again, hard. Her mind swam. Her vision darkened.

* * *

Hazuki ran her eyes over the water as she darted out of the forest. Sliding to a stop, she took a deep breath, tasted the air.

This clearing was easily twenty-five meters wide, half of it covered with water. The other half was rocky, spotted with a tuft of grass here and there. The waterfall was louder than thunder, covering most of the sound in the area. Trees lined the clearing, hiding who-knew-what.

She had taken off immediately, assuming that he had headed for the waterfall. Looking at the area now, he would never have chosen to come here to fight. It was way too tight for a fight of his caliber.

Hazuki sighed, shook her head and walked up to the edge of the water to take a drink.

Looking up at the sky, there seemed to be a couple of hours left to sunset. She had wasted half the day coming here. Daddy had always said that night was both the best time and the worst time for ninja to fight.

A ninja uses the night, the darkness, to hide, attack from secrecy. Her moves are cloaked, easily mistaken for something else. She knew this from the thousands of late-night training sessions her father had engineered, on top of the Academy's own sessions.

However, a ninja also cannot read her opponent properly. She is blinded like her enemy, unable to predict attacks unless the enemy is very predictable. She knew this from those thousands of training sessions. Hazuki had never passed them.

Setting her jaw, narrowing her eyes, Hazuki stood up.

This Tadao bastard was nothing compared to her father. She was going to pass this, show off the superior training her father had given her. She was going to make him recognize her worthiness.

The leaves rustled behind her, the air changed.

Running her hand down her thigh, she jerked around, flung her hand out.

The kunai embedded itself in a tree.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she glared at the tree before turning back around to the water.

Yoshida Tadao stood in the center of the lake, looking at the waterfall. All his weight was one his left foot, his right hooked behind his ankle. He rocked back and forth on his heel. His fingers were laced behind his neck. He seemed lost in thought.

She blinked. He was standing in the center of the water. She thought her father was the only one in the village who could do that. He never mentioned teaching anyone.

Without changing expression or posture, he turned and starting walking toward her. He pulled his hands down and hooked his thumbs in his pockets.

She stood her ground, watching his feet as he walked back, the water rippling under each step. Her fists balled up.

"Nice place. Do I need to worry?" He smiled consolingly. Mockingly. "Interesting choice for a fight, though. I wasn't expecting it from any of you. I like it." He nodded, looking around him.

Rocking back on her heels, Hazuki leaped at him, arm snapping forward.

He twitched to the side, her fist sailing past, not even touching his ear. Wrapping his hand around her wrist, he threw her over the lake, back towards where he had been standing.

Thinking fast, she knew that she couldn't walk on water yet. Daddy wouldn't teach her. She started forming seals, watching the water get closer.

The log hit the water with a splash, floating down the lake.

Hazuki stumbled to the side as her feet hit the ground, back brushing against a tree. Keeping her back to the tree, she looked around the clearing.

Tadao was gone, not even a stir of dust left behind. He was fast.

The leaves rustled again, causing her to jerk her head to the side. Nothing was moving but the sound continued.

Releasing her breath, she looked to the other side. Nothing.

A cold shiver ran down her back as she turned to look up.

Tadao was standing upside down on the lowest branch, his face barely centimeters from hers. "You are way too slow." His right shoulder pulled back.

Hazuki dropped, hands moving fast, as his fist struck the tree.

She stumbled as she hit the ground on the other side of the clearing, turning around to watch the tree she had just been under shatter like a bomb. The top branch seemed to hang in the air, suspended by its own shock at being torn in half.

Tadao still stood on that branch, looking back over his shoulder at her. With a great effort, he twisted in the air.

The upper half of the tree moved with him, flying at her as he released it from his feet.

Her eyes widened. She inhaled sharply. _He's throwing trees now?_ That thought ran through her head to the exclusion of all others.

Her hands sped through the seals again.

She watched the tree tear through the space she had just been standing in. Twitching her foot, she found out she was standing in the lake. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and remembered what her father had told her. Kneeling down, she started a new seal sequence.

With her eyes closed, she couldn't see the result but she could feel it. The air was getting thicker, more moist.

She opened her eyes, finding a thick mist surrounding her. Stepping away from the edge of the water, she tried to feel out his place in the air, find his chakra.

Moving some chakra to her feet, she ran to her left as fast as she could and jumped.

A kunai passed under her feet.

She hit the ground and knelt, sliding another meter before leaping to her feet with an uppercut.

Tadao tilted his head back and let it pass him by, smiling. "Impressive, did your father teach you this?" He slammed his knee into her stomach.

Flipping over to her feet, she felt the ground splash. She was back in the lake, higher now. It was around her knees. That would make it harder to move.

She had barely stopped before a hand wrapped itself in her shirt and hurled through the air again.

Flipping around again, she slammed into a tree trunk with her feet at full speed. She felt her bones rattle hard in her legs. Her spine hurt.

The tree cracked.

Kneeling on the side of the tree, she thought hard about what she could do next. The problem, she found, was that she was already using everything she had. He was countering all of it easily. But that shouldn't be that easy.

She could already feel her chakra running half-empty. That wasn't good.

Gritting her teeth, she charged at him, assuming him to still be in the same place he threw her from. He was.

Jumping, she spun around, swinging her leg as hard as she could.

He scowled and caught her ankle, then her other one as she kept spinning, bringing the other one flying at him. "Not impressive." Squeezing her ankles tight, he flung her hard out into the middle of the lake.

She rolled and tried to stand on top of the water, which should have been easy. Instead, she went straight through, sinking below the surface instantly.

Hazuki tried to swim for the surface but couldn't move her legs. Looking down, she saw a seal on each ankle, which seemed to be weighing her down. She couldn't kick her legs very hard at all. She tried to push herself at the surface, doing just enough to keep her just below, her hands above it.

Her air was starting to run low; her lungs burned, eyes watering. Struggling more, she found her stomach was starting to hurt more, more than his kick should be responsible for.

As far as she could tell, she had been here for several minutes. Her throat and chest were in agonizing pain. She needed to breathe, now. Even her legs hurt and she had barely moved them; instead, they feel like they were being stretched, pulling her with them.

A hand broke the surface, wrapped around her throat and picked her up out of the water. Tadao stood up straight, holding her above the water, looking into her wide eyes.

"If you are going to fight near the water, you need to learn to swim, little girl." With that said, he slammed her into the surface, sending waves of terrible agony through her back and causing her to swallow a lot of water as she gasped in pain.

The pain stopped her from even thinking of swimming for several crucial seconds. She could see Tadao standing on the surface, watching her, arms crossed.

Why wasn't he helping her? Did the bastard know anything about teaching? Her father would never have done anything like this; he was going to be so mad when she told him about this. If she...

He was trying to kill her, and he wasn't being nice about it.

She tried to move but everything hurt so much. Her body felt so heavy, she couldn't move. Her eyes drifted shut.

* * *

Naruto sat on a branch, looking at the sky. He had been looking for hours, trying to find the dumb-ass. He was so telling the old man about him. Coming up with that bullshit story about only a third of the class passing just so he could fail them. Doing that just so he could have more time to himself.

He's a fucking Jōnin, his life belongs to the village. That's the whole point of being a damn ninja, isn't it? In compensation, he got respect, power, money.

_Oh, well, just another hour or two until sunset. That's the perfect time to get his attention._

Naruto pulled out a coil of wire, surveying the patch of forest he was in. It wasn't big enough to be a clearing, but it was almost there. He ran his eye over the terrain, imagining the fight, the way it would play out.

He would attack Tadao, send him flying into a bush where his bombs would go off, humiliating the bastard. He would win; he would pass. He grinned, thinking about it. That would teach the bastard.

Iruka-sensei had said that the key to any ninja battle was surprise. Attack when least expected, disappear afterward. Night was the perfect time, he said, as long as you knew what you were doing. It works better when you have a group, though. He seemed rather insistent on that.

_Oh well_, Naruto shrugged. He had a feeling the girls would not listen to him if he did ask for help. No one ever did, so why should he expect them to? Sayuri seemed nice enough but that would only go so far. Once he asked for help, she'd probably just laugh at him for needing it.

The Hokage offered a lot of leeway to his ninja. According to him, most other villages were a bit more restrictive. Not a whole lot. He'd heard stories of this really amusing ninja who rapped instead of spoke, and another who liked to dress in woman's clothing. Still, indiscriminately crippling three ninja careers just because he had something more interesting to do was not something Sarutobi Hiruzen would tolerate, especially since the ninja force still had not reached pre-Kyūbi levels.

Taking off his jacket, wiping sweat off his neck, he rummaged through his inner pockets. Pulling out five round balls, he looked back at one spot in the area. That had looked like a really sweet spot for this little trick.

Jumping to the ground, he moved carefully over to a really thick tree, scanning the branches. He got to work quickly.

Just because he couldn't find Tadao did not mean he couldn't find him. He may be destined to be an awesome ninja, but he doubted he was quite that awesome just yet.

Tadao didn't seem like much, but just before he had disappeared, Naruto had gotten a feeling from him. It felt like he had just gotten much more dangerous.

The girls hadn't seemed to feel it, or maybe they were just better at hiding it. After all, girls were supposed to be better with feelings, weren't they?

Speaking of feelings, he felt like he was being watched. Looking up, he saw Tadao laying on the branch, holding one of the balls.

"Pranks, is it now? During a battle?" Tadao scowled at him. "You're nuts, Uzumaki. Not the good kind either, which could be forgiven." Tadao threw it over his shoulder, allowing it to go off in a nearby bush where it detonated, turning most of the bush neon pink.

Naruto gulped, trying to glare at him. "Seemed like a good idea," he said, trying to sound casual. He flicked his eyes around, looking for any way to leave.

He saw a small patch of orange sticking out of Tadao's equipment pouch. It was too small to be his jacket...

"Probably, if it were a cover, but I know your type. Think you can get away with doing stupid shit because you're Grandpa's favorite." Tadao slipped off the branch, snagging another ball before he landed. He held it up to show.

Naruto discreetly backed up, swallowing again. He formed a hand sign.

Tadao rolled the ball between his fingers. "This can get people killed, you know."

"Yes, it can." Naruto jumped back immediately, channeling chakra.

The ball detonated, the blast ripping the tree apart, sending it up a yard or two. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a burning tree.

A grin spread across his face. Boo-yah. He beat a Jōnin and he'd only been a ninja a week. He was awesome. This was so easy.

_This was too easy._ His grin slipped as his brain started talking to him, ignoring his mental 'Shut up'. _This man is a Jōnin. The old man may be going senile, but he isn't that far gone. This guy looks old enough to have been a Jōnin when the Kyūbi attacked._

He felt his body stiffen, senses stretching out for the slightest clue. The wind blew through the trees, making a lot of racket. His eyes scanned the area, finding nothing. His nose, however...

He caught the scent of booze and water close by. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to figure out how close. It took a minute but he felt like slapping himself.

He sighed and turned around, where Tadao was standing not a meter away.

Tadao looked fairly unruffled. The only sign that he had been caught in an explosion was a small mark on his sleeve that was still smoking. His hand looked a little red.

"Where does a Genin get a hold of a high-yield bomb like that?" His gaze burned, like it had in the clearing. It had a new quality to it, one that Naruto was used to. It felt like one of the villagers was staring at him. Tadao reached out and picked him up by his shirt. "Talk."

Naruto glared at him, resenting his tone. "Tell the librarian to be careful what ends up in the Student section of the library."

Tadao's tone was conversational, amused. "The only book there with this kind of info only gives the method of making security bombs, for destroying secure boxes. Their explosive yield is shit; not something you fix just by adding more boom." His grip tightened.

"Playing around until you find the right idea is not advised, when you're dealing with the big bang. It also gave me my paint bomb and a whole lot of others." Naruto quirked his eyebrow. "You questioning all of us?"

"Only when you do something particularly interesting. Detonating a big bomb in my hand is particularly interesting. Especially when you shouldn't have one." Tadao nodded to himself, frowning.  
Naruto smirked. "You're chatty all of a sudden."

Tadao shrugged a shoulder, jostling Naruto. "Getting blown up by a ten-year-old rookie does that to me." With the same amount of effort, he threw Naruto across the clearing.

Naruto skidded across the ground, dragging his shoulder through the dirt. Before getting up, he made a note of where he was, and the bush next to him. Getting up, he looked around.

Tadao was gone.

The hairs on the back of his head stood up. He turned and darted through the bush immediately.

He channeled chakra into the bush as he ran.

A high-pitched, piercing squeal tore through the ear behind him, straining his ears. He tripped.

Rolling on to his back, he looked around. Nothing.

He got himself up to his knees before he felt a boot hit him in the gut. It picked him up and sent him spinning through the air.

Naruto twisted himself over to land on his feet, which he did. He landed right on one of his own paint tags, leaving him bright green. Sighing, he shook his head.

A snapped twig behind him sent him spinning around, fist flying out. He struck a tree trunk, feeling like he'd broken his hand.

_Where is he?_ Naruto shook his hand, wincing at the pain as he turned around again.

There was Tadao, crouching there. His fist slammed into his gut like Chōji after the last potato chip, driving his back into the tree behind him hard enough to break it in half.

Naruto continued flying back into another tree, embedding his back in the trunk. Groaning, he fell to the ground.

He looked up, watching Tadao walk up to him, hands in his pocket. He pulled out one to draw a pouch from a nearby bush.

As he dumped out the contents, Naruto was dismayed to see all the tags, bombs and other traps he had set. Flash-bangs, light tags, shriekers, paint tags, pukers, exploding tags and the good ol' Big Bangs. Not to mention his wire, kunai and shuriken. Naruto wanted to sigh but that hurt too much so he glared at the pile instead.

"One trick pony." Tadao dropped the pouch and picked Naruto up again. "For a second, you looked interesting. Those traps were only amateurish, though." Tossing him up, Tadao grabbed his ankle and swung him like a flail towards the tree that had stopped him before.

He went through that tree and through the next one over when Tadao let go of his ankle. He stopped when he hit a big rock.

Naruto fell to the ground, tasting copper, the world already dark.

* * *

Tadao nestled himself down in the top of a tree, feeling the chakra signature of his three punching bags. All in all, they seemed all right. It was shame to fail them but there was not much point in sending them off all cocksure and incapable.

He'd done the standard chat with the Genin's teachers; since his students were pretty much younger versions of their parents, and one didn't have any, he'd skipped the traditional family visit.

The teachers were apparently next to useless, though.

He'd heard so much about Matsushita being a Taijutsu prodigy; her teachers had raved about her strength. They should have mentioned her lack of resolve. Matsushita did more wilting than anything. She had to have gotten lucky with that one teacher; he'd probably needed a stomach transplant anyway. Nothing much there, just a coward.

Iyokan had been the top girl of her class, good in books and body. Apparently, that didn't mean much. She had never of her father's tact or skill but at least she had gone on the offense, short as it was. She might have gotten a punch in if she had tried something other than a head-on charge. That Kirigakure could have been the trick, but she wasted it. There was a potential ninja there but...

He sighed.

She just wasn't worth it.

Uzumaki had been a surprise, at first. Umino had said that you could never quite be sure what he would do. He failed everything in the Academy, even the stuff you couldn't fail.

"But his prankster mind shows up and he becomes the perfect ninja."

That bomb trick had proved that, but he wasn't that unpredictable. All the traps had been too obvious in the end. Setting traps and waiting for him had been a unique approach but it fell apart too quickly. He'd do well as a bomb maker but not as a ninja; he was worth less than both the girls.

The Hokage himself had said to test them before throwing them away, but he wasn't seeing anything to change his mind. This was going to end horribly.

Looking over at the horizon, he saw the sun finish setting.

_Oh, well._ He leaned his head back. _Time to get some sleep._

A tingle at the back of his mind caught his attention. Looking in the tingle's direction, he felt their chakra signatures growing stronger.

They were waking up.

Despite his best efforts, he felt a grin spread across his face. _Playtime._

* * *

Sayuri pushed herself up slowly, her head feeling like it was caught in a vice. Her face hurt, like her father had driven her into a brick wall again. Just quirking an eyebrow made her want to whimper in pain. In fact, her entire body protested every move she made. Breathing was a difficult chore and her back refused to hold her, aided by her shoulder.

Shaking her head just made everything worse.

He'd owned the fight. Nothing she had done had been of any consequence. There was no way she could end this in her favor. He was a Jonin; she wasn't even a Genin.

Sayuri felt tears prickling the edges of her eyes. She couldn't turn back or she'd have to go home, be laughed at. If she could just get her headband back, everything would be all right.

The look on Sensei's face as she crawled away flashed her mind. The feeling of his fist and that tree...

But what could she do?

Sensei had smacked her around like the bullies in school once had. He had been so casual about all of it. He didn't seem at all torn up over the idea that he might have crippled her. What could she do?

Shakily, Sayuri climbed to her feet, stumbling before she could regain her balance.

_What can I do?_

* * *

Hazuki drew in a deep, ragged breath, coughing as sand got in her throat, made her want to vomit. Her throat felt raw; her body was in agony. Her chest felt like it wanted to cave in, her back didn't want her moving and her head was only too happy to keep her still.

Something nearby smelled really bad.

Rolling onto her back, she opened her eyes and looked at the sky.

The bastard had pulled her out of the water, left her lying on the rocks. _At least he didn't let me drown. Still, doesn't he understand the concept of restraint?_

But then, he didn't want to teach her, so why should he care if he killed her? Daddy cared, so he went as easy on her as he could; he showed her his secrets so she could survive. He'd never beat her down like Tadao had.

She just wasn't good enough, was she? Did she not learn her lessons properly? What went wrong?

She had done everything she could think of; was she supposed to do something else? Make up something new?

Still, she was as good as crippled; he'd done a number on her. She couldn't move as fast or as well as normal. Her chakra was over half gone now. She couldn't think of anything else.

Shaking her head from side to side, dismissing that thought, she narrowed her eyes.

The ground felt strange, and that smell hadn't gone away.

Sitting up, and ignoring the pain brought on by doing so, she looked down, and immediately felt her stomach lurch.

Gross! She had been laying in her vomit!

_That bastard is so dead_, she snarled in her head. She was going to kill him slowly, peeling his skin off inch by inch!

_But what can I do?_

* * *

He couldn't breathe. Moving hurt like a bitch.

Naruto groaned as he twitched on the ground.

Inhale. Shit, that hurt, too.

Naruto coughed and inhaled again, fighting the urge to choke as he taste his own blood. He opened his eyes, saw a bit of it on the ground next to him.

Tadao was serious. He was going to kill them at this rate.

He had said they weren't interesting... How were they supposed to be interesting?

Was his career really over that quickly? He'd listened to the villagers talk about how he was going to fail, and die, and he deserved it. He'd never believed them.

What if they were right? Was that what this was, punishment for not listening to them.

Groaning, he tried to push himself up, barely getting his knee under him before he felt something not right in his ribs.

Gasping for breath, Naruto cursed in his head. He had promised Hokage-jiijii; he was going to be Hokage, damn it. He could not end it here.

He was going to endure and be so damn interesting, Tadao was going to beg him to be his student.

Naruto smiled. Yeah, he was going to make him crawl.

_But, how?_

* * *

I don't know if any of you will appreciate what this means to me, but this is the first chapter I have ever finished in the past six years. That gives me a good feeling, although I'm not entirely happy with my work right now. I will be coming back to alter and update my work as this story continues to make it all work.

As I said at the top, this idea just would not leave me alone. I've wanted to do this kind of team since Omoi, Karui and Samui appeared in the manga.

I've already figured that the story is going to have three parts: the two manga parts (with proper adjustments) and this, the new Part I.

I have been giving this a lot of thought; I have scenes in mind and a general direction that the story is going in. If anyone has a contributing idea, I will consider them as they fit into where I want to go. That does not mean I will bend to everyone's demands.

I'm hoping to find someone who can draw these characters for me, since I suck at drawing. For reference: Hazuki looks like Makibi Kiyone of Tenchi, with Tenchi's eyes. Sayuri looks like Koiso Ryoko from Angel Densetsu.

I appreciate thought-out reviews, people who are actually commenting on the chapter and the story. Generic 'update soon' reviews, I find offensive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I am not Kishimoto Masashi, unfortunately. Thus, it is only reasonable to assume that I do not own Naruto. If you recognize a technique from another manga, or a character, I do not own them either. Frankly, I think the only character I own fully is Yoshida Tadao.

**Author Note:** Some review responses follow.

Rina K – To be honest, trapping is not really going to be Naruto's specialty; however, he will be better at it than anyone else on the team. I'm kinda stuck on missions at the moment, so if you have any decent ideas, I'd be happy to hear them.

This chapter was assembled over the course of two to three weeks with the last bit finished mere minutes before posting. *bows* I apologize for everything that sucks.

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**WELCOME TO THE END OF YOUR LIFE!**

Umino Iruka slammed down his pen, rubbing his face. Finally. Every year, the day before school started again, he was elected to put together the lesson plans. They always did it when he wasn't around to object either. He would make them pay for this...

Maybe assign all of them to teach counter-seduction? Or even seduction?

Iruka suppressed a grin. Then he yawned and stretched his arms high over his head, looking at the clock.

It was really late. The building was always locked down at sundown, more tightly secured than most bank vaults. He was going to have to find the janitor to let him out now; only Kenichi was authorized to open the locks at this second.

Naruto was probably asleep by now, back at his apartment. That was too bad; he wanted to find out who his team was. The next chance he was going to have to ask him was most likely going to be after he had failed the Final Test.

That was too bad. He would already know normally but he was not involved in team formation since he only had one student in the entire group. The most he had contributed was filling out a recommendation form. He didn't even know his Jōnin.

Getting up, he grabbed a hot cup of coffee and went searching through the building to find Kenichi.

He was ashamed to admit that he was shocked that Naruto passed the exam. Naruto was not the best student, or even an average student. He was so hyperactive with a goldfish's attention span. The only things he seemed to live for were pranking, ramen and becoming Hokage.

He paused to peek into his classroom, on the off-chance that Kenichi was in there, fixing up the room. It was empty.

Iruka was even more ashamed to admit that he had nearly accused Naruto of stealing the headband. Fortunately, he managed to stop himself. Once he thought about it, though, he couldn't help feeling proud of him.

From the first day, he had dismissed Naruto as a failure. He had looked at his past, his attitude and his grades. For years, he had figured Naruto was most likely to become a mangled corpse.

Another classroom. Another empty classroom.

His pranks, though... They were more than just pranks. They showed a level of insight that many Genin never gained. He attacked the source of a person's pride, not just their pride. He used them as tests; he watched how the target avoided them, or how they didn't.

Naruto showed a surprising grasp of history, as well. It honestly shouldn't have surprised him, though, not once he thought about it. From a kid who wouldn't shut up about being Hokage for longer than a bite of ramen, it was obvious that he would study them. He even spent at least three or four hours a week with the Sandaime.

The Endurance portion of the test had even helped him in the Ninjutsu exam, wasting enough chakra, he made a passable Bunshin. Naruto had been most shocked and excited about that, promising to practice his chakra control.

After that ramen dinner, he had taken Naruto back to his apartment, where Naruto was still staying to this day. For the next week, he had taken time off to teach Naruto a few extra tricks; even if he was going back to the Academy, he had earned them. However much he wanted Naruto to pass, he knew that was just wishful thinking. He wasn't going to pass, not this time.

Sighing, trying to banish that thought, he opened another door, peering inside, hoping to find the janitor.

What he found, instead, was three Genin lying around a board game, dead asleep. Their stomachs growled and grumbled in a strange sort of harmony.

Blinking, he stepped into the room, walking up to the trio. He thought all the teams had been collected by now.

Toeing one of them, he watched the boy snort and roll over. He toed him harder.

The boy waved him away.

He kicked the boy a bit harder than he should have.

The resulting shout woke up the other two.

Once they were awake, they looked up at him darkly. "You're late."

"I'm not a Jōnin-sensei," Iruka said, hands in his pockets. "Are you telling me that you haven't met yours yet?"

The three just looked back, eyebrows raised.

"Do you know his or her name?"

"Kekkaishi... I think."

Iruka nodded understanding and confused. Hatake Kakashi was notoriously late for everything, but he had never been this late before.

Telling the Genin to follow him, he found Kenichi down the next hall. Once they were outside, he sent them home and headed straight to the Hokage tower. He needed to find out where the hell Kakashi was.

* * *

It was no use, was it?

Sayuri rested her chin against her knees, looking up at the stars. From the position of the moon, she had most of the night to come up with some genius-type of plan to pass the test with. She couldn't think of anything.

Immediately upon awakening, she had used the one healing jutsu she knew and eased her aches. However, it was only a temporary stop; it would return in the morning with a vengeance.

After that, she tried picking a few splinters out of her face. It still really hurt but she had managed to get the blood off.

As she worked, her mind raced, analyzing the 'fight' with Sensei, hoping to find some key to victory. Even now, an hour after she was done easing her pain, she was still trying to find that one misstep, just one little flaw that she could use to her advantage.

No matter how hard she tried though, nothing was coming to mind. There was literally nothing she could think of that would actually work.

The one thing she could do was land a punch, but he'd just switch away again, or worse. He'd catch it. She wasn't even sure that she could get close enough.

It didn't help that he wasn't playing around. He seemed to be going full-force against them. No doubt that he had smacked the others around as easily as he had done to her.

He wanted to kill them, that's all there was to it.

She could feel her hands shaking, tried to will them to be still. _Stop it! Getting scared isn't going to help here; that's what got you hurt._

She knew she hadn't been a very good student back in school. Her jutsu were not as fine-tuned as they could be. She was lucky to have gotten that Kawarimi off at all. There was the possibility that she could switch with something nearby and hit him, but he would probably see that coming, making it useless.

Climbing to her feet, she looked around the clearing. She didn't even know where anyone was at the moment. Everyone had left her here so long ago, they could have even finished the test and just forgotten her.

Shoulders slumping, she stood there. She jumped when a twig snapped, spinning around, slamming her fist into a tree.

As the tree shattered and fell, Iyokan-san stood to the side, eyes wide, staring at her. Slowly, her eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you doing?" she sneered. "You could have killed me."

Sayuri bit her lip. "Sorry, I thought you were Sensei. He likes to pop up behind people, you know."

"He beat you, too?"

Looking at her now, Sayuri could tell that Iyokan-san had had gotten curb-stomped. She seemed to be favoring one leg and her arms were holding her stomach as she walked, hunched over. She was breathing strangely, a little too deeply and not quite regularly. Her face was heavily bruised and was that...?

"You look like shit, Matsushita," Iyokan-san stated matter-of-factly.

_You too_, Sayuri wanted to say. "Is that...?" Sayuri pointed at her hair.

"Not one word," was the growled reply. Iyokan-san's face lost what little good humor it had and she seemed to glare past Sayuri. After a while, she sighed and slumped down. "You took that medic seminar in the Academy, right?"

Nodding, she got to work easing some of her aches. While the bruising cleared up, and she could sit up straight, Sayuri was still worried about her breathing. After a brief time, she sat back. "That's all I can do. I only learned the one jutsu; it'll hurt in the morning.

Throughout all of this, Iyokan-san had remained silent, staring off into space.

To tell the truth, Sayuri had never understood her that well, even after five years in the same class. The two barely knew each other, really. Iyokan-san was so rough and aggressive. She always seemed to move to her own drum, finding her own solutions to the Academy exercises. She had once ended a night exercise by stealing the teacher's equipment and inciting a riot against him.

She had been the best of the girls in the class, in theory and practical. The only place she had not dominated was the Taijutsu field and she had been the really close second. Iyokan Hazuki had been one of the main contenders for Rookie of the Year, the first girl in the past thirty years.

Abruptly, she spoke. "How badly did he beat you?" She turned to look at Sayuri, a strange look in her eyes.

Sayuri opened her mouth to answer, feeling her cuts sting in protest. "I found that getting hit with a tree hurts," she answered simply, not wanting to admit to her cowardice.

"He threw one at you, too?"

Sayuri blinked. _What? He threw _trees_ at Iyokan-san?_ Suddenly, going home a student again seemed rather appealing.

"I couldn't get the bastard to hold still, even with all the things my dad taught me." Iyokan-san glared at the trees on the other side of the clearing.

"Well," she hesitated, not wanting her to get mad at her, "you are not exactly Jōnin-level, Iyokan-san, not yet."

Iyokan-san was silent for a second. "Call me Hazuki; Iyokan-san is just annoying."

Sayuri smiled, nodding. "Okay, I'm Sayuri."

Hazuki stared off again, seeming to focus on the tree she had snapped in half. "You're pretty strong. I forgot about that."

"I've been training since I was a little girl. My dad is a martial arts master. He says I take after my mother with my strength."

"I remember when you put Shihōin-sensei in the hospital. His stomach collapsed or something." Hazuki nodded to herself. "I have an idea, a way we can beat him."

Sayuri looked up hopefully, needing the reassurance that it was possible to win.

Hazuki leaned back against Sayuri's back, looking up at the stars. "We need to get you in close to him, so I can run distraction. I get him focused on me, and then at the last second, you come in and land a hit from nowhere. Nice and simple."

_Too simple._ Sayuri's head fell. "I can't do that, Hazuki-san. He'll see me coming over a mile away."

"So switch with something close to him. That should do it."

Slowly the girls stood up, Sayuri still felt nervous about the plan, which didn't seem very thoroughly thought-out. There was so much that could go wrong with this. "How will you get him focused on you? He must know everything you know by now."

Hazuki shrugged. "My dad has been teaching me to use a sword. He told me not to use it until he told me I was allowed, though. So, don't say anything."

"What if he doesn't have our headbands? It doesn't matter if he beat him, if we can't find them."

Hazuki went quiet, obviously thinking.

Sayuri waited for a few minutes before speaking again. "Maybe if we could find Uzumaki-kun? Maybe he knows something. If nothing else, it will give us another person to use, increases our chances of succeeding."

Pursing her lips, Hazuki shook her head. "We can't waste time searching for him. If he can't make it back here, then he doesn't deserve to be a ninja."

Sayuri sighed, unable to think of a way to change her mind.

"Glad to hear it."

The two girls looked up to see Naruto hobbling out of the forest. His hand was holding his chest as he walked out, slightly slumped over. His hair shadowed his eyes slightly. He had lost his jacket somewhere, so he was in a black shirt with an orange spiral on it.

He smiled, his face looking pained from that action. "So, I made it back."

Hazuki raised an eyebrow. "You're far too injured to be useful. So, we'll leave you here."

"Fuck that." Naruto seemed to force himself to stand up straight, glaring at Hazuki. "I didn't just force myself back here to sit back and do nothing. Let me help."

"You'll just screw everything up and get us all killed."

Naruto and Hazuki seemed to fall into a glaring contest.

Sayuri stood to the side, watching them. She didn't mind his help; to be honest, she figured it could only improve their chances, but she figured that Hazuki-san would overrule her.

"What the hell is your problem?" There went Naruto, angrier than he was before. "I've never met you before today."

Hazuki just sneered back. "You're here; isn't that enough?"

"Stop it," Sayuri said loudly, stepping between them. "This isn't helping any of us." Not sure what she was doing, she looked over at Hazuki. "We need to work together if we're going to beat Sensei, and find our headbands."

"He has nothing to offer." Hazuki seemed determined to keep Naruto out of it.

"I know where our headbands are."

The girls turned to look at him. His face was serious, with faint remaining traces of anger, no sign of his normal cheerful humor. His eyes were still locked on Hazuki.

"Your headband is on an orange cloth, right? I saw it when he was slapping me around."

Hazuki nodded, face guarded. She looked at Sayuri, who stared back. "Fine." With an incredibly fake smile on her face, she turned to Naruto. "So, tell us where the headbands are, and you can help us."

Naruto smirked back, smugly. "Right, I'll show you."

* * *

The night was already half over.

Tadao stood on the edge of the cliff, looking out at the horizon, his arms crossed. His right hand looked red and angry, just like Uzumaki had claimed.

The Genin knelt behind the bushes, watching him.

Hazuki's mind raced as she sat there. She had not wanted to believe that Uzumaki had actually been able to mark him when she could not.

Damn little shit.

"Why hasn't he attacked us?" Sayuri asked, being cautious as she looked through the foliage. "He has to have sensed us here."

"He wants to see what we're up to," Uzumaki answered. "He wants to see if we're going to do anything interesting."

"If we were alone," Hazuki added, "he would have attacked us. Same old, same old. Since we're teaming up, he's going to hold off, try to guess our plan."

Sayuri nodded, doubtfully. "So, have we got any new ideas?"

Uzumaki looked around behind them, at a tiny clearing. There seemed a hell of a lot of those. "I've got an idea for a finisher, but not for getting the headbands themselves." He pulled several tags from his pouch, rubbing them between his fingers.

Hazuki ignored him, turning back to watch Tadao. She had no idea where her headband was, seeing as Uzumaki was remaining quiet on that. However, he did tell her that someone had to get behind him.

She wasn't allowed to carry a sword yet. Daddy had just started to teach her how to use a sword; all she had managed to cut so far was herself.

Slowly, a smirk formed on her face.

"I've got an idea."

* * *

Sitting down at the dingy table, Iruka tried to keep his glare level. He took a quick sip from his cup as he met Kakashi's eye. It hadn't taken long to find him, once he had reached the Hokage tower.

Kakashi, for his part, just sat there, leaning back in his chair. He was incredibly relaxed for facing an angry teacher. Kakashi had yet to speak or anything; he just put his book away as Iruka approached. "How can I help you?" he asked, his voice a weird mix of amused and apathetic.

"I'm Umino Iruka; I'm a teacher at the Academy," Iruka started. "I was working late today and found something curious as I was walking out."

Kakashi's eye closed in a smile. "You found my Genin team, sleeping in the classroom."

That stopped Iruka short. "You knew?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Suspected. Why else would a teacher, even the most uptight one, hunt down a Jōnin? Plus, you only had one student in the entire graduating group, so you only had one way of knowing to hunt me down."

This admission made Iruka glare harder, even as a blush spread across his face. He had given up pranking when he graduated from the Academy, but was he really so uptight? "So, where were you?"

Kakashi tilted his head, somehow even more amused. "There was this little girl being terrorized by a vicious cat. After I saved her, her mother wanted to show me how grateful she was."

Iruka sighed. "Bullshit."

Kakashi leaned further back. "I don't owe you anything, Iruka-san, so you can't be exactly be picky."

"As a teacher yourself, Kakashi-san, you are responsible for picking up your students, not just leave them lying around."

Kakashi sighed, spreading his hands to the side. "I sent word that they were to meet me at the dango stand. They failed to show up. Therefore, they failed. I was even on-time and waited for four hours." Taking a sip of his drink through his mask, Kakashi sighed. "So, how's Naruto been?"

Iruka furrowed his brow. "How do you know Naruto?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Who doesn't know Naruto? His pranks are infamous; he's given me a number of chases."

"He's fine. Happy to be a ninja, though that won't last long."

Kakashi nodded. "True, especially with Tadao as his teacher. He is not known for coddling his students. Never passed a team."

Iruka met Kakashi's eye. "Tadao? I've never heard of him."

"There are quite a few ninja you've never heard of. I mean, there are how many ninja, and civilians, in this village? It's almost impossible to know everyone," Kakashi lectured. "Not even the Hokage knows every ninja by name.

"Yoshida Tadao is one of the oldest ninja in the village. The only Konoha-trained ninja older than him are the Sandaime and his teammates, the Sannin, and Shimura Danzō. He's a Ninjutsu specialist, second only to the Sandaime and not by much." Kakashi shrugged. "That's all I know. I know he fought in the Second and Third Wars, but not what he did."

Iruka felt a chill run down his back. "You said he never sent a student back to the Academy. Why?"

Kakashi smiled grimly. "The ones who made it to the hospital haven't left the ICU yet."

Iruka blanched and ran out of the bar.

Kakashi chuckled. "Then again, the Sandaime would not tolerate that kind of conduct, so maybe not."

* * *

Hazuki took a deep breath and stepped out of the bushes. She gripped a plain jian tightly in her hand. This was going to be the hardest part of her entire plan.

Tadao was still standing by the edge of the waterfall. He had half-turned, smirking at her as he stood there, not moving. His arms were crossed over his chest, as he rocked back and forth slightly on his heels. "Are we going to try this again?"

"You got lucky last time," Hazuki growled. "I wasn't allowed to use everything." Praying that Uzumaki and Sayuri knew what they were doing, Hazuki hefted her sword and charged.

Tadao dodged the first slash with a tilt of his head, still smirking. "And yet, it changes nothing." He stepped to the side as she tried to stab him. "Basic jabs with a sword and halfhearted uses of a simple Suiton jutsu. Your abilities are disappointing, Iyokan. You haven't learned anything. Tell me, what is my specialty?"

Backing up, Hazuki glared at him. He was asking her such a basic question, like he was actually a teacher. Why? "Taijutsu, why?"

"Do your research before attacking." The Jōnin raised one hand and formed half of a snake seal.

Eyes widening, Hazuki jumped, helped along by the rising stone pillar beneath her. The added force sent her tumbling through the air, landing on her back on the edge of the cliff, barely stopping herself.

Tadao dropped his hands to his side, shifting his weight to his right foot. "I gave you a chance, Iyokan. That first time, you charged in, recklessly. You never questioned what I could do. You just assumed brute force would win the day.

"Just remember, not only am I more subtle than you are, I also have more brute force." Tadao's voice dropped to little more than a murmur.

Hazuki found her attention riveted to him, unable to focus on anything but his voice.

"I thought maybe having your best attempts would make you question yourself. Apparently not. Instead, you just come at me with the same shitty routine. I'll admit you had no chance of predicting that I was a Ninjutsu specialist, but you should know that, as a Jōnin, I am proficient in at least two elements.

"Only a retard attacks everything the exact same way."

Hazuki tried to sit up but found her arm trapped in the ground. She stopped to stare at it. She had not seen him make a seal.

"See, you even assume that I must not be doing anything just because I'm talking." Tadao's voice was laced with derision.

Reaching back, Hazuki grabbed the item that Uzumaki had given her. Snapping it into position, she threw the fūma shuriken as hard as she could.

Tadao swatted it away.

It was long enough for Hazuki to pull herself out of the dirt, charging Tadao again. She just had to get close enough.

She could feel Tadao's glare as he barely shifted to the side, before he grabbed her wrist and snapped it, taking her sword away. He punched her in the chest, knocking her back to the treeline.

As Tadao stopped, he felt the sword in his hand change. Instead of leather, he felt cloth.

Reacting immediately, he threw Naruto as hard as he could, sending him tumbling head over feet.

Naruto bounced off of his shoulder, barely catching his feet. He grimaced as he realized he twisted his ankle. Tadao had reacted a lot quicker than he thought he would, and had thrown him a whole lot harder. Taking a deep breath, he met Tadao's shadowed eyes.

"And the joker appears. What were you trying to do, change out my kunai for a rubber chicken? Stick a 'Kick Me' sign on my back?"

Naruto grinned. "That's all way too cliché." He lifted his hands, showing off Tadao's pouch. "But I did want to look at this."

Without warning, he found his back slamming into a tree again as Tadao reclaimed his pouch.

As soon as his hand touched the pouch, he felt it shift again. Sighing, he looked over to confirm.

Hanging in midair was Sayuri, fist drawn back for a hard punch. She threw it, giving him little time to react.

The log exploded.

Naruto and Hazuki swore as Sayuri hit the ground.

Tadao stood on the edge of the cliff applauding mockingly. "Practice any technique enough and it becomes instinct. I don't have to think about it, just notice the danger."

Behind Tadao, the three Genin saw the sky starting to lighten up. Time was running out.

Tadao's sleeve exploded.

The explosion ripped a chunk of the cliff off, the hot shock wave hitting all of them hard enough to knock them back.

Sayuri pushed herself up and turned to look at the others, giving a signal.

Hazuki and Naruto turned and ran into the forest promptly, moving as fast as possible.

* * *

Sayuri swallowed as she watched Hazuki-san and Uzumaki-kun rush through the forest. She had no idea why she had volunteered for this part but it was too late to turn back. Now, she just had to stall until they got back to the clearing.

So, now she just had to find him. Hopefully, he had not run off after the others.

As the smoke cleared, she saw a shards of wood. He had dodged again.

A rock shifted to the side.

Looking over, she saw Sensei putting out a small flame on his sleeve. He didn't look too concerned.

"So, the coward's turn, now?" He chuckled.

Sayuri narrowed her eyes. His mocking sounded exaggerated and fake; it was not at all like the disgusted shots he had fired during the first fight.

Sensei strode forward, fists at his side. Sayuri was reminded of the day she had spied on a pair of Akimichi training. His relentless motion reminded her of the Nikudan Sensha she had seen.

Lunging, she threw a jab; it had put a teacher in the hospital so she hoped it worked here. For the eighteenth time that night, she wished she was better at Ninjutsu.

He brought up his hand and caught her punch, but his hand remained open.

As she tried to back away, she found she could not pull her fist away. It was like it was sealed to his hand.

Putting all her weight on his hand, she jumped, turning into a midair roundhouse. She regretted that a second later when he threw her before her kick connected. As she slid along the ground, the only thing she could think was, _He likes throwing us_.

He put his hands in the Tiger seal, inhaling. As he exhaled, a giant flame shot towards her.

Sayuri skipped to the side, trying to breathe through the heat. She could feel the skin on her arm and face tighten and prickle. Reaching up to wipe the sweat out of her eyes, she missed Sensei coming in with a hard punch.

* * *

Naruto and Hazuki slid to a stop as they reached the rendezvous clearing, breathing heavily. They had put their headbands back on, needing the reassurance.

Looking to make sure everything was set, Naruto turned to Hazuki. "You know anything that can hide us?"

Instead of answering directly, Hazuki just made some hand seals and a thick mist covered the clearing.

Naruto could feel the moisture in the air as he looked around, surprised. It wasn't really his kind of technique but he could definitely see the value in it. "You're manipulating the water in the atmosphere?"

"Yeah, it's a camouflage jutsu, mostly used by Kiri-nin," Hazuki led him through the mist, not trusting him to walk straight. "Now, all we need to do is meet up with Sayuri and give her her headband."

Naruto nodded, still focused on the air. "This mist touches every side of the trees, right?"

She sighed, exasperated. "Yeah, so?"

Naruto grinned. "Perfect. I was worried they were too far apart but this covers that. We need to find a place that we can get out of this in a hurry."

The two ended up crouching next to one tree, as they listened for Tadao to show up.

Hazuki tapped Naruto on the shoulder as Tadao entered the mist. They could hear him chuckling.

"Are we trying this again, Iyokan? It didn't work before." He stopped, close to the center of the mist. "It's after sunrise, you know; I know you two have your headbands. Good job on that; too bad about Matsushita. Guess she just couldn't handle it."

Naruto motioned for Hazuki to leave the mist, following behind her. He formed a hand seal.

With a rising crackle, he watched as arches of lighting jumped between the four trees, racing through the mist.

They could hear Tadao swearing as he was trapped in the mist with it, leaving them chuckling.

Sayuri came upon them, as they sat down.

When Tadao tore his way out of the mist, he found the trio, sitting by the tree, watching him. All of them wore their headbands. "Cute. So, you think you pass?"

Hazuki looked up, smugly. "We had possession of the headbands at sunrise, as the rules said."

"And yet, Matsushita did not have access to hers, nor do I remember her touching the pouch."

Naruto shrugged. "She switched with it to hit you; aren't you supposed to be smart?"

He looked to the girl in question. He could see she was still trembling; he'd have to break her of that. But she was meeting his gaze, trying to hide her nervousness.

Tadao inhaled; he exhaled. Unfortunately, he knew that he couldn't fail them legitimately anymore. They had taken the test and passed, even if he had to let them get in a few hits. He hated that electric prison, though. But, they had a lot of nerve and there were some good kernels in them.

He grinned savagely. "Report back to the clearing, tomorrow at three in the morning. If you are late, you will be punished."

* * *

Naruto trudged into the apartment, way too sore to jump the way he wanted to. He was finally a ninja. There were no more tests, no more surprise exams. Now he could head out and be a kick-ass ninja.

Walking into the living room, he found Iruka-sensei camped out on the couch. It looked like he had just fallen asleep.

Smiling, Naruto lied down next to the couch, falling asleep immediately.

* * *

Hazuki limped through the back door of her home into the kitchen. She had been hoping to avoid everyone; she just wanted to go quietly hide in her room until she could stop whimpering with every step.

Instead, she found her parents eating in the kitchen.

She had forgotten that it was still breakfast time.

Her father, a thin man with a short black ponytail and big brown eyes, looked up from his meal. "Look who finally decided to show up. What happened?"

Hazuki winced. She had been hoping to avoid this. "Tadao-sensei wanted to test us. He made us fight him to prove we deserved to be ninja."

Iyokan Tenchi took a bite of his meal before smiling. "I'll bet you passed with flying colors. These Konoha-nin always seemed on the pansy side of weak to me. No way my baby girl couldn't win against any of them easily."

Hazuki smiled weakly. "Yeah, easily."

* * *

Sayuri flopped onto her bed, relieved to find most of her aches disappearing after that bath.

The house had been empty when she had come home, meaning her dad was at the dojo. She was happy to avoid the argument that was coming once he found out she had passed and was an honest ninja now.

* * *

Tadao stood in front of the Hokage's desk. It was already sunset. The first thing he had done after dismissing the Genin had been to go home and sleep. After that, he had cleaned up and reported to the Hokage.

The old man steepled his fingers. "And?"

Tadao shrugged. "They have potential, I guess. But I see a lot of problems with them, too. It's going to be a long time before they're ready for anything decent."

"You seemed willing to fail them outright."

"I was. I probably should have, but I gave them that chance you asked me to. In the end, I even went a bit easy on them. I just hope that doesn't come back to bite us."

* * *

I have given this chapter a lot of thought. My main problem was figuring out how to get them to pass the test. Obviously, I know the answer and I had to bypass what Tadao wanted a bit. I had written myself a problem since I couldn't see how to really get them out of it on their own.

Team 7 never actually passed their test, outside of a technicality. I was trying to give Team 4 more of a struggle, to the point that I had to struggle.

If this was a disappointing chapter, I apologize.


End file.
